[KOOPS, Matthias]
Historical Account of the Substances which - [KOOPS, Matthias] - 1800. [1274472]91 pp. Small folio, orig. edition binding of straight-grained blue morocco (joints a little rubbed), spine stamped in blind. [London]: T. Burton, 1800. First edition, and a very fine copy in the original edition binding of blue straight-grained morocco, of this classic work on the search for new materials to manufacture paper. This copy has been signed by Koops at the bottom of the dedication leaf. At the same time as the first papermaking machines, invented in France, were being built in England, Koops was experimenting with the use of straw and wood for papermaking in Bermondsey. He succeeded in the first, large-scale, commercial production of paper made from straw and wood. Koops was given permission by the King to be the only distributor of paper made from alternative paper sources in the hope that he could help solve England's paper crisis; however, the times were not right for this early attempt at recycling and Koops went bankrupt. The book describes ancient equivalents of paper, methods that had been tried over the ages to find paper which would withstand the attack of insects, data on French exports of paper into England, and commentary on Koops' attempts to produce paper from sources other than rags. "Not much is known of Koops, but his work as a experimenter with new papermaking materials at the dawn of the Industrial Revolution is justly famous. He writes of the work of SchÃ¤ffer, Guettard, de Lisle, Seba, and Senger in the search for new materials, and spends much time discussing the use of conferva for papermaking fibers although emphasizing the availability of straw."-Schlosser, An Exhibition of Books on Papermaking, 21. Fine copy. The two preliminary and two terminal endpapers are also made from wood. With the signature in pencil of Sir Francis Freeling, secretary of the Post Office and an original member of the Roxburghe Club. Armorial bookplate of Joseph Neeld (1754-1828), and the modern bookplate of A.R.A. Hobson. ? Hunter, The Literature of Papermaking, pp. 47-48.
[Bookseller: Jonathan A. Hill, Bookseller, Inc.]